Slovakia line-up: Mucha, Pekarik, Skrtel, Zabavnik, Strba (Kopunek, 87'), Vittek (Sestak, 92'), Stoch, Durica, Hamsik (c), Jendrisek (Petras, 94'), Kucka
Italy line-up: Marchetti, Criscito (Maggio, HT), Chiellini, Cannavaro (c), De Rossi, Pepe, Gattuso (Quagliarella, HT), Iaquinta, Di Natale, Zambrotta, Montolivo (Pirlo, 56')
Italy crash out after Vladimir Weiss' Slovakia beat them in a very entertaining match. This World Cup has already had a lot of shock results and even though Italy have played poor this campaign this result is another shock. Slovakia knew only a win would do whereas Italy could still progress with a draw in certain circumstances. Slovakia came out the better and were looking for that first goal straight from the whistle, Vittek and Hamsik were causing problems for the defence but couldn't find the net. Italy did give Slovakia the lead in the 25th minute when De Rossi played an awful pass which was intercepted by Jendrisek who played the ball to Slovakia's best player of the game Vittek and he put Slovakia 1-0 ahead. As with their previous games Italy lacked fire-power and despite some decent opportunities they couldn't gain that equaliser. As I said after the New Zealand game Gattuso would make a great change for the team offering Lippi the chance to play three attacking midfielders without any defensive worries, as predicted Gattuso played very well in midfield trying to stop Slovakia playing in the centre of the park. Slovakia ended the first half with more shots that needed good saves from deputising Marchetti to keep the score 1-0 at half-time.
Lippi changed the team at half-time introducing Maggio and Quagliarelli into the fray. But replacing Gattuso brought worries into the defensive side as the changes didn't bring any inspired creativity that a certain Camoranesi would have done. The Italian fans found something to be cheerful about as Pirlo came on as Lippi's third and final roll of the dice. Pirlo did bring some inspiration and Italy looked a little more dangerous though still woeful up front. Italy paid the price for their devastating lack of finishing when Vittek fired Slovakia 2-0 ahead with quarter of an hour left to play. What a quater of an hour that turned out to be as Italy now stepped up another gear and even found their shooting boots; Di Natale could have had a hat-trick if he was decent in front of goal but he did manage to pull Italy back into the game ten minutes from time. But Italy's hopes of progressing were well and truly fading when Kopunek scored just before stoppage time. The four minutes of stoppage were made to be entertaining when Quagliarelli fired Italy with a chance of nicking something. However there wasn't enough time left and Italy were made to rue their missed chances as they exit the tournament leaving their World Cup Champions title behind them.
No comments:
Post a Comment